TREBANOG student Charlotte Stanford was recognised for her academic achievements and work in the community in a prestigious ceremony for outstanding achievements across the South Wales Valleys.

The 18-year-old won the Rhondda regional title at the Griffin Mill Garages-sponsored Student of the Year Awards, announced at a gala dinner at the Holland House Hotel in Cardiff. She received £100 in WH Smith vouchers and a plaque as her prize.

The awards, jointly sponsored by Rhondda Cynon Taf council, recognise outstanding achievement in three fields: educational standard, community involvement and voluntary work. Each senior school in the council footprint puts forward a nominee.

Charlotte, a former student at Porth County Community School, now plans to study chemistry at Cardiff University with the ambition of a career in chemistry, or teaching at secondary school.

She was nominated for her work on the Eco-schools club and as a member of the Rhondda Youth Forum. She has also organised charity fun runs and has a keen interest in sport, participating in making a film about the benefit of physical education in conjunction with the Welsh Assembly Government and the Sports Council.

Charlotte also is a member of Big Foot Drama where she took part in improvised productions, and won best comedy sketch show in the V-Factor competition.

She said: “It was great to be nominated. The hard work is all paying off now. I am really shocked that I won, I’m totally amazed. I did not expect it at all. I thought others were going to win it. I thought they would say someone else’s name, I am very shocked but very pleased.”

Fellow Rhondda nominee Owen Lloyd, from Tonypandy Community College, was also rewarded for his success with the prize of a bike from Griffin Mill, the first time this prize has been introduced.

The 18-year-old, of The Common, Pontypridd is going to study European Law at Merton College at the University of Oxford and is the first student from the college to go to Oxford or Cambridge University.

Owen said: “I am very happy and a bit shocked. I was not expecting that at all, I was not expecting anything really. The bike is great, it will be really useful at university.”

Amy Mason, from Aberdare, was the overall student of the year, winning a Griffin Mill-sponsored Fiat Panda car for a year as her main prize.

RCT Councillor Eudine Hanagan said: “These awards show that students from the South Wales Valleys can go out into the world and excel.”

Griffin Mill Garages managing director Anthony Griffin added: “Once again we have a fantastic crop of students, in the sense that they are not just academic but we have got pupils who are good at so many other things.

“What strikes me is how humble the all are, they don’t boast about their achievements.”